3 Ways to Pay for Airbnb With Points

These days, budget travelers don’t need to choose between scraping together enough points and miles for a brand-name hotel room or paying cash for a lower-cost option. Many banks now offer an appealing alternative that’s somewhere in the middle: You can redeem credit card rewards for Airbnb stays, often because of how payment networks code these purchases.

The home-sharing platform offers plenty of affordable lodging options — for example, you can choose to rent a private room in a house, or an apartment — which makes it easy to stretch rewards further. And landing a rental with a kitchen could also save plenty on dining out.

Here’s how you can cover that next Airbnb stay with credit card points.

Certain other home-share company purchases are classified as spending on real estate agents, which, unlike hotel spending, typically aren’t considered travel purchases. (Airbnb notes that previously, Airbnb…